Everyone keep in mind that a cotton rope with it's end chared makes for a good firestarter. Just light the end with a match, let it burn for a min or two, blow it out and your ready for an easy char that will catch a spark quickly.

ok oops i saw the pic. its time to spill the beans. where did you get the fire piston? and the steel for the flint while you are at it. i misplaced my flint and steel set and have more flint but dont have another steel. and ive been looking into fire pistons too. you have to let us know.

irrationalsolutions wrote:ok oops i saw the pic. its time to spill the beans. where did you get the fire piston? and the steel for the flint while you are at it. i misplaced my flint and steel set and have more flint but dont have another steel. and ive been looking into fire pistons too. you have to let us know.

I picked this up the other day for a buck and a half..got charcloth directions like oops makes...Someone might wanna save the instructions...I posted them big enough at photobucket so anyone can read them... When you get to photobucket,enlarge it to full size...

The views and opinions expressed by this person are his own and not the general consensus of others on this website.Realityguy

the file is a good idea. thats what my last one was. i just dont have a place that i can do anything like that right now and it will be a while before i can again. so im looking into buying one. i hate to do it because i know i can make it but i need another one.

its the heat treating that i cant do right now. i cant even heat it to turn it. the neighbor hood im in doesnt allow that stuff. i can do it with a torch but that doesnt work that well for me. it takes too long to get an even temp. with a homemade forge i can heat it better but i dont have one now and cant set one up. my dad used to have one but he got rid of it.

will a file as is work as a steel for a flint and steel set? i was always told that they had to be heat treated. i cant remember but i know it wasnt just heat and quench. it was something about the color of the steel when heated. i have a video of it somewhere. i could be wrong but that what i was told.